The government's aggressive language about the aviation industry's failure to get to grips with cutting pollution reflects growing frustration that its emissions are undermining Britain's strategy on climate change. Senior ministers are seeking to lead the international debate about global warming and convince the electorate that the environment is being taken seriously. But cheap flights, globalisation and the mounting cost of train travel have made aviation by far the fastest growing source of carbon dioxide in the UK.

Emissions from UK aviation have increased by nearly 70% since 1990 and rose by 11% in 2004 alone. While they amount to less than 3% of national carbon emissions, expected growth will nearly double this within 25 years.

In addition, aviation is the most highly polluting mode of transportation on earth, and its low share of total emissions hides the fact that the complex chemical reactions that take place when aviation fuel is burned at high altitude make emissions from aeroplanes nearly four times as damaging as those at ground level.

The government is in a double bind. While it is committed to cutting overall UK carbon dioxide emissions by 60% between 1990 and 2050, its own research states that this will be impossible if aviation is allowed to carry on expanding. The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research estimated last year that aviation emissions could account for up to half of the UK's total emissions target by 2050, cancelling out savings made by individuals and other industrial sectors.

The Department for Transport has also been found to have been underestimating UK aviation emissions by not including non-scheduled flights in its estimates, and by maintaining that half of all people flying out of the United Kingdom live abroad, when the real figure is nearer 30%.

While the government insists that aviation should pay for its environmental costs, it also knows that there is no prospect of any major technological breakthrough that will significantly reduce aircraft emissions. Gradual improvements to fuel and engine efficiency are the best that can be hoped for.

Friends of the Earth estimates that a 1.2% a year reduction in aviation emissions is possible, but this is nowhere near enough to counter the current growth in UK passengers of 6.4% a year. If Britons continue to fly as the Department for Transport forecasts, the number of passengers will increase from 228 million today to 465 million by 2030.

The aviation industry says that it is up to the government to ensure that domestic policy initiatives encourage greater investment in cleaner technology. In theory, the EU's carbon trading scheme may allow aviation giants to buy allocations of emissions from poorer nations. But as the Stern report on the economics of climate change made clear in the autumn, the international nature of aviation also makes the choice of carbon pricing instrument complex. Internationally coordinated taxes are difficult to implement, and International Civil Aviation Organisation rules prohibit the levying of fuel tax on fuel carried on international services.

Meanwhile, the government is under growing grassroots attack for allowing train ticket prices to rise sharply just when it should be trying to encourage people to switch from aviation, and for encouraging the growth of nearly all Britain's main airports. Last month the transport secretary, Douglas Alexander, announced that he would allow airports to keep growing, infuriating local communities who fear increased noise, traffic, pollution and stress. The government's insistence that cheap flights are democratising air travel has also been demolished by figures from the Civil Aviation Authority which show that the average income of UK leisure passengers at cheap flight hub Stansted is more than £50,000.